Chapter 297 - Nightmares

Dageer was firing at the B1 units running after Hell Squad when he saw a shadow with the corner of his eyes. Blaster ready, he turned around, and prepared to fire, but was surprised to see a Togruta.

"General Ragout? How did you get here?"

"I stole one of their STAPs, but they shot me down before I could get to the rendezvous point. Since you also got stuck here, it doesn't make much of a difference."

"What about Dooku? Did he escape?"

"Unfortunately. Where are the others?"

"Three-four, Metal, and Dab are holed up a few clicks from here. They managed to find a good defensive position, and were waiting for us. But the seppies got here first."

"How is Metal?"

"Holding on. He will get another scar, but he will survive."

Dageer left unsaid that Metal would only survive if they could escape. And now their chances weren't looking too good. The MTTs were slow, but if they didn't move soon, the vehicles would get there eventually. And even a Jedi wouldn't withstand a chance against the two rotatable twin blaster cannons it had.

"We can't stay here. The swamp will slow the clanckers down, especially the MTTs. I'm going to create a distraction, and we run towards the others."

"We will be slowed down too, general."

"Not as much as them. Ready?"

Dageer shot a quick glance at Brain, Cell, and Tech, and, when he saw them nodding, gave an affirmative signal to Ragout.

Seeing that, the Jedi unhesitatingly got up, exposing himself to the incoming lasers. Suppressing a sigh, Hell Squad did the same, and fired back, to cover Ragout while he used his Jedi powers.

It didn't take long. A huge curtain of water was raised up from the marsh, right between the two groups. When they saw that, Hell Squad turned around and retreated without the need for an order. They had fought with and against Force users before, so they knew it was taxing on Ragout to maintain such a huge amount of water in the air.

The distraction lasted for about ten seconds before Ragout couldn't maintain it anymore, and the water fell. It wasn't much, but it was enough for the clones to get a few dozen meters away.

...

The next few hours were frenetic, with the Republic group - after meeting up with Three-four and the others - doing their best to escape, and killing a few dozen droids which were on their trail. Ragout was right when he said they would lose the MTTs on the swamp, but even so, the B1 units were relentless.

Still, things were looking better now. Sure, Count Dooku had escaped, and they had no means to leave Aleen. But they were alive, and mostly unharmed, except for Metal.

"I think we have finally shaken them off, general."

"Good. Metal, how are you? Can you keep moving?"

The machine gunner laughed, albeit weakly. He used a rock to stand up, grunting in pain, but doing his best to hide it.

"They have yet to build the seppie that is going to take me down, sir. Don't worry, we can keep going."

Ragout nodded, and Hell Squad stood up. And then Dageer got shot.

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"Dageer!"

"Sir!"

"Commander!"

It all happened in a second. Dageer had just gotten up when a laser left the trees, and hit the back of his head. He fell down without a sound, smoke rising from the spot where he was hit.

In one single movement, Hell Squad turned around, and fired at the direction the laser came from. A commando droid fell on the water, and sank. Then everything quieted down.

After a few seconds of silence, the clones dropped their blasters, took off their helmets, and knelt besides Dageer. Three-four had already turned him around, and was examining him with a grave look on his face. However, no matter what he did, Dageer had no reaction.

"Three-four... Is he..."

The clone didn't answer. Instead, he told Brain to hold Dageer, and carefully took off his helmet. When he did that, he weaved a sigh of relief.

"He is alive. But he won't be for long if we don't get him proper medical care soon."

Ragout and Hell Squad all slumped to the ground, relieved. Even if it was just for a few seconds, believing Dageer was dead had been terrible. Hell Squad would be completely lost without him. He had always been the cornerstone of the unit, always there for them. They knew they could rely on him for anything. As for Ragout, he wasn't feeling much different. In his heart, Dageer had a position close to his master's.

Ragout carefully picked up Dageer. The clone still showed no signs of waking up.

"Let's go."

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Dageer didn't feel anything. One moment he was getting up, and the other, everything suddenly went dark. And, in the darkness, he saw his dead brothers.

He couldn't be more familiar with what was happening. He was having a nightmare, the same he had every time he closed his eyes.

Thousands of clones, each one a friend and brother he cherished, but who were all dead now. Their mouths were open in silent screams, their faces contorted in pain. Then, everything slowly started dissolving in red and black lights, creating a gigantic, hooded figure.

"Kill... Kill... Kill the Jedi... Jedi... Jedi!"

The same grave, old voice, repeated these words intermittently. Usually, that was when clones woke up, sweating and confused. They also couldn't remember exactly what the voice had said, only that it terrified them.

But this time, Dageer didn't wake up. He struggled, knowing that it was just a dream, but being horrified all the same. The voice got louder, until it was like a blaster cannon being fired next to his ears. The words were imprinted in his head, and yet, he could do nothing. He didn't notice that he started to mumble and repeat them unconsciously.

And suddenly, it was all gone. Everything returned to the darkness, but somehow, it was even worse than before. Because now he was alone with his thoughts, and all he could think was of the voice, and Ragout. And those weren't good thoughts.

...

He didn't know for how long he was unconscious, but suddenly, without any warning, he was pulled from the darkness, and opened his eyes.

The first thing Dageer noticed was that he was submerged in a blue, viscous liquid, and had a tube attached to his mouth, so he could breathe. A bacta-tank. And that was all he had time to look at before an immense wave of pain spread through his body, coming from his head. He couldn't control himself, and started shaking.

"Warning! Warning! Patient CT-4063 destabilizing! Warning! Patient CT-4063 destabilizing! Activating secure protocols."

Something cool was injected into him, and his eyelids became heavy. However, it also made the pain go away. Before he entered unconsciousness once more, he saw a familiar face before him, as a soothing voice reached him. Even in his current state, he could feel the Force attached to it, calming him down, helping him fall asleep.

"Calm down, Dageer. You are between friends. You are home."